Can we all agree that there are extremely dark forces and witchcraft at play, the kind that attack in unexpected ways; like when you have lathered soap to wash your hands in a public establishment and the layer of soap is as thick as a cast on a broken arm, you open the tap and not a drop of water locates you.
Imagine this happening on a day when you also sent money to the wrong person, and they were quicker to withdraw than you were at reversing the transaction.
These are also the kind of days when your tiny toe loses its battle with the foot of the bed, and you must make that split second decision regarding whether life is worth living.
Then imagine not having adequate tools to process all this, and having a tiny human (or multiple!) relying on you not only for their physical survival, but their mental wellbeing.
I think of moments where I have woken up so unwell, but barely have 5 minutes to download before my bosses, aged 3 and 1 demand my immediate and undivided attention.
It’s no wonder most millennials are in the throes of existential crisis – we are the weapons formed against us, not to mention that a lot of us are no longer in possession of all 32 teeth that science promised, blatant evidence of an extended and unrequited love of sweets, the one union that is impenetrable.
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The holiday season can bring about a lot of vulnerability, and I’m yet to fully understand why. Perhaps it’s the constant reminder of what life ‘should’ look like?
Or perhaps it’s unmet expectations from the preceding year, or the use of an external measuring stick to gauge how happy we should feel based on society’s expectations.
Whatever the case, my entire heart goes out to those dealing with a heavy year while also juggling parenting.
Parenting, especially of young children, requires a level of presence that will induce radical humility upon the realisation that a tiny human, barely double-digit kilos, can run the lives of all adults in its vicinity.
I firmly believe this is the exact reason that it should take a village to raise young children.
Raising children should be a two-generation exercise at minimum, to allow the children and their parents holistic shared experiences and less isolation and overwhelm – and what better outcome than to have a generation of well balanced,
well rested parents who can show up for each other and their families without the burden of having to deal with uncharted waters on an individual level.
There’s something to be said about the general wellbeing of communities like Indians and Jews, where most every aspect of life is shared and experienced with more togetherness than isolation.
In present times where social media has made us all the more antisocial, I encourage each of us to curate our own village, showing up for one another for every chapter of a life that was never designed to be lived alone.
-The writer is a lawyer and podcaster